Employee involved in moving company fraud case sentenced to prison – NBC Chicago

One of the men behind a multi-million dollar moving scam in Chicago was recently sentenced to prison.

NBC 5 Responds first reported on this scam four years ago.

Prosecutors alleged that employees of the moving company, which operated under the name “New City Moves,” stole more than $3 million from more than 800 customers, many of them in the Chicago area.

Earlier this month, Andre Prince, a senior sales representative at the company, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role. Prince and a customer service representative were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The other employee was awaiting sentencing on Monday.

The owner of the company has since fled while awaiting trial and is considered a fugitive, according to prosecutors.

This is how the fraud worked, according to the public prosecutor:

First, New City Moves chose a name very similar to that of a Chicago company with a 4.2-star rating on the Better Business Bureau: New City Moving. The name has only three letters, which was enough to convince many customers to hire the scam company.

According to federal prosecutors, Prince posted fake reviews online and quoted customers very low prices over the phone. But once the items were in the moving trucks, customers sometimes had to pay three times the original quote to get their items back. According to the FBI and prosecutors, the company also operated under the names “Great Moving USA,” “Green Movers,” “Cross Country Moving And Storage,” and “Movers Consulting.”

If you have been a victim of a similar scam, you can file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.